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Per Gessle’s comments:
Brilliant afternoon show in Frankfurt (#3!!). Thanx everyone for showing up and singing along. Day off now. Behave.
Official videos:
Fans stories:
YouTube clips:
The Look | It must have been love
Media reports/reviews:
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Per Gessle’s comments:
XLNT gig last nite in Ffurt. Pbly the best so far onzetour. The crowd was unbelievably good. So was the catering. Thanx. Nu show in an hour.
Official videos:
Fans stories:
From roxgirl-germany:
The second Frankfurt concert would be a standing one for me. At 6PM, they let people run to the first place where tickets were checked and we had to wait another half hour until we ran past the guys handing out the funny little lights (Got one! Finally!) to get my ticket ripped off to enter the hall. There were quite some people already, I got a nice spot in the bend on the righthand side of stage with a nice view to center stage. The presenter made the same jokes as the day before (respective as on any concert). Christina Stürmer came on stage, greeting the familiar faces of the “Roxette Fan Club”. The rest of the programme was the same as the day before (see my report there).
The crowd burst with cheers when WICF started. It was the same when they came back, the mood was even better than the day before. Marie started to improvise more and got more confident walking around on stage. Per even stepped a bit in front of the stage once, near me, being impressed by the balloons. (“You are crazy!”) During the flower ceremony, a little dolphin was thrown on stage for Marie, she held it and talked to Per quite vividly. A girl near me got Per’s flowers while Marie kept hers.
Next stop: Cologne 1 & 2. And where can I buy balloons?
YouTube clips:
Wish I Could Fly | The Look (clip) | It Must Have Been Love | Joyride | Listen To Your Heart (clip) | Flower ceremony
Media reports/reviews:
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From Kiwein:
I keep it short, Frankfurt #2 is waiting. Best show so far. It seems Marie reached the top now. Everything is perfect! Per seems to feel better and the Festhalle is cooking. NOTP team should think about more standing concerts. People in their seats seem to fall asleep after 20 minutes. So yesterday was LOUD, GREAT and reminded me of the old times. So all we need is more balloons for tonight’s JOYRIDE.
From roxgirl-germany:
Arriving at the venue at half past seven, I had to wonder once again why there is always such a long queue in front of the ladies’ room. Many people tried to make it to their seats ten minutes before the start of the show, which pointed to a slight trouble with the organisation of the entrance. When I made it to the first balcony, the music had already started, while I had to walk around the entire balcony to make it to my seat on the lefthand side of stage, right i
Looking at the first row, I recognised all faces!! I discovered Jonas, sitting quite near to me. While the classic parts were nicely arranged and the Katona Twins, Christina Stürmer and Heaven 17 were good, I was eagerly awaiting Roxette, who appeared ten to nine.
During the first tunes of Midsommarvaka, I could see Pelle, Clarence and Christoffer enter the stage via stairs behind the electric band, while in the front part of stage, suddenly a hole appeared, allowing the people on the balcony to see a glittering green-blueish suit sitting bent on a chair. The chair was driven upwards, while Per appeared on the righthand side of stage to the tune’s changing into WICF. Hell broke lose. It was a perfect presentation (even with subways!) that was greeted with a lot of cheering, even though I seemed to have been the only one standing in my block all the time. The platform went down again and I could see them stepping down from it, it is low down there.
The show continued with Alan Parsons giving a good performance (with Per’s black acoustic guitar that he uses e. g. for Billy). He dedicated the second song to his late partner whose funeral he attended earlier that day in Glasgow. (I had read about it in the morning newspaper.) He told about it in really good German (he read from the teleprompter) as well as in English. The Katona Twins showed once again what you can do with a guitar and then accompanied John Miles for his first song. Christina Stürmer did another song and a computer game song met Classic Music (while I have to say that was the weakest point of the evening). I had not seen Jonas and thought he had gone backstage to finally get some of the wine that the others always drink (LOL) but he stood on stage with Heaven 17 who continued the show. John Miles gave another performance, and at twenty to eleven, after the “Bolero”, “our” band entered the stage and a piano with Clarence sitting by it was lifted through the stage. (Said piano had quite some fun going up and down that evening.) Marie had changed into the black outfit, and as mentioned several times that evening, this was the comeback of the year. The music turned into The Look and the audience burst into cheers and claps. IMHBL was also a favourite and Marie’s right hand turned into a fist after the successful performance. (“Yeah, that was great!”) “Joyride” was a blast and LTYH concluded the evening. Marie got back into singing bluesy on stage and walked around slowly. After they waved good-bye and left, Oscar took Marie by her arm while she took his. She climbed down the quite steep stairs holding herself on both sides and Per followed her. A man standing next to me shouted “Bravo, Marie!”
The rest of the show were the ever popular “Land Of Hope And Glory” for the audience to sing along as well as John Miles’ masterpiece “Music”.
Everybody was called back for the flower ceremony to receive flowers. Per donated his to the front row (who got them?) while another Roxette fan got those of Christina Stürmer. Marie kept hers which caused her some problems to climb down the stairs, a guard took them and helped her downstairs. While leaving, Per even looked up into the balconies, waving to us.
YouTube clips:
Wish I Could Fly | The Look | It must have been love | Joyride | Listen To Your Heart
TL 2 | IMHBL 2
Media reports/reviews:
BILD Frankfurt: “Roxette comeback enthralls”
dpa/Zeit: “Roxette celebrate moving comeback in Frankfurt”
TV report in HR Hessenschau
Kirsten Ohlwein and Judith Seuma met Jonas Isacsson in Hamburg for an interview. He just came back from a walk in rainy Hamburg. After short introduction, we went straight to work.
Yesterday we saw that you are also in the front when you played with Alan Parsons, not in the back behind the orchestra.
- Yeah! I have to come down and play with him as well. That’s fine. He’s an old hero of mine, he was assistant producer of Pink Floyd’s “Dark side of the moon” and he worked with The Beatles as well. So I’m honoured to play with him, actually. He’s a cool guy, and very big, I’m not that tall, I look like a dwarfs. He’s nice, but like 2 meters tall!
Alan Parsons is a new act in the show. There are other new things, for example, Sharon von Adel is not there anymore. So John Miles does “Stairway to Heaven” alone. We miss her! I miss OMD as well. They played somewhere in town yesterday as well. They were supposed to come to the hotel after the show but they didn’t.
Is it exhausting to play during the whole show, it lasts three hours…
- No, it’s actually better than sitting in the dressing room and wait, because the other guys in Roxette and everybody else have to sit and wait for their moment, kind of boring. The only thing that disturbs me when I come in during the break is that the wine is gone! I’m sure it’s Pelle, Clarence and Christoffer!
Yeah!, We can see that on the YouTube videos.
- Yeah, that happens while I am up on stage you know. It’s kinda funny, stupid but funny. We have a good time anyway.
So we’d like to know about your career. How did you start to play guitar?
- Two elder brothers, Thomas and Mikael, were playing in bands. They both played bass, they would fool around with guitars too. I always tried to be better than them (laughs), so that’s how it started. I went to rehearsals with my brothers, saw the bands, and I liked the atmosphere with amplifiers and all that.
How old were you?
- I was five. There were guitars in my house all around. And my great grandfather played organ at the church, so there was always music in the house and started from there.
Do you play other instruments?
- Yes! Bass and drums. I learnt to play drums at the music school, I could play guitar before that, but drums were the first instrument I really had to learn, but it became boring. I can also play keyboards.
Is it true you played with Joey Tempest and John Norum’s as well, back in early 80ies?
- I lived in Upplands Väsby where they come from. John Norum had a band called W.C., Water Closet, with some friends of mine, he was a great guitar player but he was a kid back in those days, he was very shy and stood with his back to the audience, but everytime I listened to him play guitar, I thought “this guy is great.” So we lived in the same town and grew up with those guys as well. I also worked with Joey’s first solo album.
You said you lived in Upplands Väsby, but where do you come from?
- No, I was born in Umeå. We’re nearly one age. We moved to Dalarna and I moved to Stockholm in 1975.
You also worked with Eva Dahlgren a long time. How did you start to work with her?
- I worked with Eva from her second album “En blekt blondins hjärta”, from 1980 till 1991. Eva’s producer Anders Glenmark and I were on tour with a band, we played in the same show, a bit like this show wi
th various artists, and Eva was backup singer in one band, so we met then and became friends. Then Anders and me started to work together and we formed a band actually, with Eva. Then in 81 we went on tour with Eva, the woman went rocket skyhigh immediately, with such great songs.
How was it working with her? You composed one song with her, “Älska mig”.
- It was great! We also did music for a children’s movie and worked a lot together those days. I miss her sometimes, to play with her. We have still contact, we live very close to each other in SouthernStockholm, we see each other shopping groceries, you know, so I see her a lot. But she has a new band and works with Lars Halapi, they seem to have a good working relationship, so I don’t want to go and mess things. But if she’d ask I’d say yes , of course.
How did you start to work with Roxette?
- Working with Eva lead to other jobs, I got to do a lot of sessions with other big Swedish artists. I was working in studio 4-5 days a week, with different people and different kind of music, including dance bands, lots of stuff. And Clarence, Pelle and I knew each other since 1977, from different bands, Clarence got the offer to produce a solo album with Per, which then became Roxette. Clarence said “I want to have this band,” which was me and Pelle, and Tommy Cassemar. So I worked with them since 1986, except for the 7 years where Marie didn’t play. That was tragic.
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Wunderbar Stuttgart show last night. Marie was tip-top! Played this big venue many times before, always a great crowd. 3 x Frankfurt now.
Official videos:
Fans stories:
Kärlekens_Guld
Already the fact that I’d really see Roxette on stage was unbelievable! I became a fan pretty late and so I had never seen them on stage so far. And some months ago I would have never counted on still having this chance once in my life and now one of my biggest dreams should really come true. So you can imagine how nervous I was the days before the concert and of course also on December 3rd.
I almost couldn’t wait for the evening! After many hours of waiting the before evening finally arrived. With some presents for the best singer under this sun, Marie Fredriksson, I went to the Schleyerhalle. There I met some other fans I talked to until the show started. I was very excited when the Night of the Proms finally begun! It was pretty hard to concentrate on the acts before Roxette. Everything in my head was saying: “ROXETTE; ROXETTE; ROXETTE!!!”.
Then the orchestra played the “Midsommarvaka” and I thought it would be nice if Roxette appeared after a Swedish piece of music. And surprisingly the “Midsommarvaka” really turned into “Wish I Could Fly”. With the orchestra the song sounded like a hymn and to this hymn Marie was coming out of the ground. This moment was so magical! The only thing which was on my mind in this moment was that Marie looked like an angel on her chair and that therefore she should better come from heaven than out of the ground! 
Suddenly I realized that people were running to the stage (I saw such a movement for the first time on that evening and realized a bit too late what was going on down there) and so I took my camera and did the same. I thought I’d die when I was walking to this hymn to the stage. Surprisingly I was still alive when I arrived near the stage 
And so I could finally enjoy Roxette on stage – for the first time in my life! I was so fascinated by everything and particularly by Marie’s great voice… wow! But as always the nicest moments are over too soon again and like this it was with “Wish I Could Fly” too. After the song Roxette received the evening’s warmest applause. Marie said: “Thank you very much!” and Per said that it was great to be there and that they’d be back after the break.
And how they were back…! The second time they came on stage, they really rocked the hall! Although Per didn’t feel good, he gave his best and did a great job. And Marie was in a top shape anyway. It almost felt a bit as if she said to herself that she needed to give 200 % now when Per probably couldn’t give completely 100 %. Well… I don’t know… maybe I’m also wrong (I’m not experienced in seeing Marie live )… she’s great anyway. In any case I liked their performance a lot! And I didn’t seem to be the only one who felt like this. People sang along to their hits and some fans shouted: “We love you, Marie!”, whereupon she had to laugh so much. When Roxette were leaving the stage again, some people wanted them to play another song and shouted: “Encore, encore, encore!”. But of course they didn’t gave an encore. I could imagine that Per was happy that he “survived” the songs they had to sing. Because right after “Listen To Your Heart” he went back to the hotel and Marie and the band took the flowers on their owns.
Then Marie walked a bit around on stage as if she was looking for somebody to give her flowers to in the crowd. The fans who shouted “We love you, Marie!” thought that she was probably looking for them to give them her flowers. But unfortunately they were no longer standing there. Then the musicians left the stage and we left the Schleyerhalle.
After the concert we tried to meet Marie and the band at the car park where their tourbus was standing. Unfortunately the security didn’t let us go closer to the bus, so we had to wait at the entry of the car park. Suddenly we spotted Clarence and Pelle in front of their tourbus and after the fans had screamed and waved they came to us for a few minutes and signed things and took photos with us. Then they were asked whether it was also possible to meet Marie quickly, but they said they didn’t think so. So I gave my presents for Marie to Pelle to give them to Marie. I would have preferred to give them personally to Marie, but at least I didn’t have to carry them home again and she (hopefully) got them. So I’ll keep on dreaming about a meeting with Marie once in my life!
Anyway it was such a great evening I’ll surely never forget! THANK YOU SO MUCH ROXETTE!!! Love you guys!
YouTube clips:
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Oberhausen, oh yeah! Thanx for a great evening. Good rockin’ tonite.Mannheim tomorrow, Cheers.
Official videos:
Official vids from Oberhausen (4) starting here.
Fans stories:
From SuperCynni:
The concert was great, though there were many “quiet” people. they would clap, stand and all, but furthermore…
With “Wish I could fly” Marie came up on a stool though the stage, it was a magnificent view! After the break, when Roxette returned, Marie went into error during the second couplet from “It must have been love”. It was so sad to see the look in her eyes, searching for the words and thankful for everyone who kept singing along to support her.
But Marie was feeling very good and even dared to walk to either side of the stage once, giving the fans a lot to cheer about! Marie’s voice sounded good, much better than NOTP Antwerp (07-11) and equal to Arnhem (14-11).
I made some video images and pictures (though they were taken from the ring side). Am uploading video footage to my hard drive, will post when they’re on youtube. Will also post some pictures to my photobucket. Will also post when they’re up.
Unfortunately, Roxette was transferred with all the other big stars in one big tourbus, so no meet & greets afterwards. Jonas explained on his FaceBook that the driver didn’t want to stop for the waiting fans…
It was a wonderful evening, and Per, Marie, Jonas (also with Alan Parsons, WOW), Pelle, Clarence and Chris rocked
YouTube clips:
It must have been love | Wish I could fly | The Look | Listen to your heart
Media reports/reviews:
The NOTP team published a video with interviews about the German tourstart. Besides Per, Christina Stürmer tells how she experienced the intense reaction to Roxette. She went into the audience for their show. Check out:
Thanks Project_Z for the tip!
Some members of the German proms staff have started to report from the tour regularly. A nice addition to Per’s videos!
Karen’s tour diary | Kuni’s video blog
Menwhile, many reports from visitors have already appeared at the official NOTP forums. The huge majority is very positive about Roxette’s performance. The official site now also features an online version of the German tourbook. Klick here!
Update: Don’t forget choir singer Maurice! About Berlin he writes on his blog:
In any case, the audience reaction was a real success: Enthusiasm at the arrival of Heaven 17, triumph for Alan Parsons and what about Roxette? It was as if the whole of Sweden had made an appointment at the O2 World…
Online translator recommended. 
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Superb Berlin-show last nite. What a crowd! What a response! Is this South America?
Official videos:
Fans stories:
RAINBOWGIRL:
Great show, really wonderful! We managed to meet Christoffer and Clarence before the concert – they just walked by us! They were very friendly. There was about 5-6 of us and we all took a picture with them. We all had some little presents for Per and Marie and we asked Christoffer if he could give those to them. He was gladly willing to do that and joked that now he is going back like a Santa Clause!
Marie did very well at the concert, although she got a little confused with the lyrics of IMHBL. But she handled it very nicely and she looked wonderful, too. People were standing up all the time Roxette sang, and most were singing along.
After the show we tried to meet Per and Marie, but unfortunately it appeared that we were waiting at the wrong side of the hall. When the security guard told us that they are on the other side, we took an enormous run! I think I have never run so fast in my entire life. Unfortunately I arrived just in time to see Marie wave to fans and sit on the car. But I got to stand very close to the car and wave to Marie… and she waved back! So it was wonderful. And I am very happy that I had a chance to meet with Clarence and Chris and deliver the presents to Per and Marie. Hopefully next time I have better luck meeting them.
YouTube clips:
Joyride | The Look | It must have been love
HD videos: Wish I could fly | The Look | It must have been love | Joyride
MP3 recordings by Mary5958 (download checked)
Media reports/reviews:
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Hamburg #2 was a treat! Thanx everyone, we had a blast. Berlin tomorrow!
Official videos:
Fans stories:
KIWEIN:
My first German show after five Dutch/Belgian shows. I missed Sharon den Adel. H17 is an “ok” substitute for OMD, Alan Parsons is great and the show seems “shorter” than it was in Belgium/Netherlands. I missed the effects (pyro) and the catwalk (especially the ppl who walk in at the beginning of the show).
Christina Stürmer is better than I expected, don’t know why she plays only 1 song after the break. Feels a bit like they didn’t know where to put it. They changed the classical parts (to the better if you ask me). WICF is still so-so. I don’t know what I miss about it on this tour but so far I liked it only once when Marie did it the all-bluesy way. John Miles is still great, miss Sharon on Stairway to heaven. If I could is still boring (yes, sorry for that..).
And one thing: I know the organizers decided to do more seated shows to please the people. Apparently ppl wanted more seated shows. But for me it spoils the atmosphere completely. I don’t like it at all and I was really thinking about selling my tickets for the seated shows. I am not 50 yet and I want to party..and I do believe more people want that. Everybody stood anyway and I think the pushing is not THAT bad on a NOTP show..! AND I think there’s much more party with people standing and it’s not so hard for the artists to perform, too.
About last night’s show: Screwed up WICF again, voice great, lyrics, eh, yes, well, no. The Look and LTYH rocked, Marie gave all she has at the end of LTYH, it was fabulous! Joyride was nice, too. And it’s funny to see the audience seems to be fond of IMHBL. Everybody sang along…
MAMAN:
It was absolutely fantastic! As Sasha already wrote concerning the first show in HH: No one got more applause. Everyone woke up, stood up when Marie rose like the sun onto the stage. As if she was the one, all had been waiting for. I bet, she was! And she did such a great job! So much strength, so much power!
There were some wrong words in WICF, but you wouldn´t have noticed it without knowing the lyrics by heart. So: no problems. She reached the high notes, she sung so powerful, I´m speechless. What a woman! She smiled and I´m sure that she enjoyed the show! What a power, what a strength on stage! THANK YOU, MARIE! ABSOULUTELY FANTASTIC!
YouTube clips:
Media reports/reviews:
Halterner Zeitung: Roxette is the highlight | Abendblatt: Roxette – Tears and goosebumps
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Photos:
Sascha’s snapshots | Der Westen | NDR2 | Morgenpost | Kölner Stadtanzeiger | RTN | Regioactive | Bildmaschine
Per Gessle’s comments:
Excellent Hamburg gig. We felt extremely welcome by the German crowd. Thank you. Danke, dears. Let’s kick ass tomorrow again.
Hamburg! What a crowd! What a response! Just did Wish I could fly. Marie’s in top shape! Alan Parsons just borrowed my black guitar. Swell.
Official videos:
Lots of fresh footage starting here
Fans stories:
SASCHA:
What a night! Already the knowing to really be at a Roxette event after those dark seven years felt incredible while I went into the arena. The show started of with some classical songs, the Katona twins, then Christina Stürmer, followed by Heaven 17. another classical track. Hey, what was that? A blue dress was glittering left of the stage… Marie?
Marie!!! The stage lift went down and I could see her head in the dark hole. Then the strings went into a familiar note: the intro of WICF. As she went up, smiling into the audience, Roxette got such a big welcome, so much louder than everything before! Marie started to sing and it sounded different to the past. But for sure not worse. Rather in the direction of hoarse, but full and touching. The beautiful performance was thanked with a thundering applause and they said good bye until the 2nd part.
After some classical part Alan Parsons entered the stage with Jonas on his side and they did a couple of beautiful songs. Jonas is such a master at the guitar, I wanna hear much of him on the new record! In the break I looked for the merchandise stand and got the new NOTP CD. They had ROX20 as well, but I didn’t find the shirts. 2nd part. The classical tracks were mixed with the twins doing a nice pop medley, than Christina again. John Miles did some good songs and Jonas was quite often jamming at the front of stage. Great solos! Jonas playing around… dand dang-dang… The Look!
As soon as Roxette entered the arena again everyone was on his feet. And they did simply great: Per jumping as usual, the whole band smiling all over and Marie walking the stage, fooling around with the band and orchestra. Thousands of lights at the ballads, thousands of voices at the up-tempos! Everyone was Na-na-na! Marie dared quite high notes at the end of LTYH and at one point her voice broke of. After a second she went on and sang even higher, with more power! They got such a huge response by the crowd, such a thunder of applause and encouraging screams, it was clear for everyone: Roxette was the absolute highlight of the night, they won them all. Like the reporters put it later: It seemed like everyone came for one reason: Roxette’s comeback.
Now watching my photos and videos it’s still hard to believe it really happened. But it is! Almost unreal. I did only a few video clips and snapshots cause I needed to enjoy as much as possible through my own eyes, unfiltered. It went so damn fast! The bad point of the night: I was too far away! Can’t wait to jump into the crowd in Dortmund. 
NOTP FANPAGE: “Roxette – the absolute highlight”
YouTube clips:
Sascha’s video (in HD) | IMHBL | LTYH | IMHBL (clip)
By Tueffelberta: WICF | TL | IMHBL | J | LTYH
Media reports/reviews:
NDR2: “The most emotional NOTP”
Abendblatt: “Comeback of the year”
Der Westen: “Magnificent comeback of Roxette”
The voice of Marie Fredriksson has become more mature, in the heights no longer quite so at home, but all the more expressive.
Morgenpost: “Old heroes and hire youngsters”
Kölner Stadtanzeiger: “Roxette’s stage comeback”
TV reports: Leute heute | Brisant
TV4 will broadcast 20 minutes long interview with Roxette tomorrow at 9.26 AM Swedish local time.
Update, November 28: You can watch the programme on the TV4 website and read an English summary at TDR!
Source: NOTP
Thanks to Sascha for this info!
Head over to the international NOTP fanpage to view an extensive photo gallery of the tourdates in Antwerp. Nice Roxette shots!